Welcome to the TAB this morning, glad to
have you with us, saying to come to
you at again a very critical time.
We pray for your blessing to be upon
our service here and as later on we
think of the gulf and the possible cessation
of conflicts, again Lord we just ask for
your wisdom and your power to be released
amongst the children of men.
Now father we pray for a special anointing
upon each member of our congregation here, bless
our boys and girls, our parents, our older
friends, may this be a great family service
for Jesus' sake, amen.
Let's stand and sing, not what's up on
the board here, break thou the bread of
life dear Lord to me as thou didst
break the bread beside the sea.
We'll have
the first one now, needs your attention because
it's a historical passage which ought to be
read before we come to the passage from
the New Testament in order to shed light
on the latter reading.
The first reading is from Isaiah chapter 22.
This is what the Lord, the Lord Almighty
says, go say to this steward, to Shebna
who is in charge of the palace, what
are you doing here and who gave you
permission to cut out a grave for yourself
here, hewing your grave on the height and
chiselling your resting place in the rock.
Beware the Lord is about to take firm
hold of you and hurl you away, oh
you mighty man.
He will roll you up tightly like a
ball and throw you into a large country,
there you will die and there your splendid
chariots will remain, you disgrace to your master's
house.
I will dispose you from your office and
you will be ousted from your position.
In that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
I will clothe him with your robe and
fasten your sash around him and hand your
authority over to him.
He will be a father to those who
live in Jerusalem and to the house of
Judah.
I will place on his shoulder the key
to the house of David, what he opens
no one can shut and what he shuts
no one can open.
I will drive him like a peg into
a firm place, he will be a seat
of honour for the house of his father.
All the glory of his family will hang
on him, its offspring and offshoots, all its
lesser vessels from the bowls to all the
jars.
In that day declares the Lord Almighty, the
peg will be driven into the firm place
will give way, it will be sheared off
and will fall and the load hanging on
it will be cut down, the Lord has
spoken.
Galatians chapter 3 starting at verse 7 reading
through to 13.
Galatians 3 verse 7 to the church in
Philadelphia.
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write, these are the words of him who
is holy and true, who holds the key
of David, what he opens no one can
shut and what he shuts no one can
open.
I know your deeds, see I have placed
before you an open door that no one
can shut, I know that you have little
strength, yet you have kept my word and
have not denied my name.
I will make those of you who are
of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to
be Jews though they are not but are
liars, I will make them come and fall
down at your feet and acknowledge that I
have loved you.
Since you have kept my command to endure
patiently, I will also keep you from the
hour of trial that is going to come
upon the whole world to test those who
live on the earth.
I am coming soon, hold on to what
you have so that no one will take
your crown.
Him who overcomes, I will make a pillar
in the temple of my God, never again
will he leave it.
I will write on him the name of
my God and the name of the city
of my God, the new Jerusalem which is
coming down out of heaven from my God
and I will also write on him my
new name.
He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.
I'd be glad if you'd open your Bibles
to Revelation and chapter three.
Again just a couple of verses from the
seventh and eighth of this chapter.
These are the words of him who is
holy and true, who holds the key of
David.
What he opens no one can shut and
what he shuts no one can open.
One of the most nonsensical statements that sometimes
I hear is that Worthing Tabernacle is Tony
Sargent's church.
It is not, never has been, never will
be.
Worthing Tabernacle is a weak fragment of the
body of Christ here in southeast England.
The church belongs to the Lord Jesus.
He is the one who is its head.
He is the one who through the Holy
Spirit controls all of its affairs.
The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her
Lord and it is absurd for us to
think of anything but that.
Our Lord Jesus has been given all authority
within the church.
In Ephesians and chapter one you discover towards
the end of that great epistle the apostle
inferring, indeed declaring most definitely that our Savior
is indeed the head of the church.
God has appointed him, verse 22 of Ephesians
1, God has appointed him to be head
over everything for the church which is his
body.
The fullness of him who fills everything in
every way.
Someone has drawn up a poster that has
been used outside several churches and the poster
reads ch dot dot ch and underneath is
the question what's missing and the pun is
you are.
Well let's do a revision of the poster
ch dot dot ch what's wrong and the
answer is you are.
For within every expression of the local church
from its pastors to its elders to its
deacons to its youth leaders to important church
members to ordinary people who come in from
time to time on a more casual basis
there is something wrong with all of us
and therefore we look to the head of
the church to write what is wrong.
The church is a community of people who
have failed.
I hope you realize that that's the one
common denominator that binds us together at Worthing
Tabernacle.
We are a collection of failures.
We draw sustenance and succor and hope from
our Lord Jesus the one who who never
failed.
Well here is the Apostle John he's an
old man he's on the Isle of Patmos
as has been so graphically described by Tim
and Hugh in previous addresses from this from
this book.
The Apostle John as he comes towards the
end of his life he has this great
vision tremendous insight into the purposes of God
and he sees in front of him those
seven churches that he particularly has responsibility for
and those seven churches as brought out by
Tim and Hugh quite accurately in their exposition
of scripture stand for the church of Jesus
Christ throughout all ages.
These churches do not just refer to a
specific period of history.
There is that of the church of Laodicea
reproduced in in every local fellowship and here
the the Apostle John now catches a glimpse
of the sixth church the church in Philadelphia
and there are concerns expressed by the Lord
Jesus for this church.
In one sense it's a good church it's
the only church that no criticisms are directed
to as the message leaves the heavenly realm
and is conveyed to the angel of the
church.
I wonder what the Lord Jesus thinks about
the church at Worthing Tabernacle.
I sometimes suggested in a sort of semi
humorous fashion that we ought to change the
name of the tab.
The option that I gave you some some
while ago was not taken up with any
degree of enthusiasm.
It really was triggered off by a little
girl in Latin America referring to churches in
that continent as being places where people came
to praise the Lord.
So she called the church God's singing house
and there's a church in Los Angeles called
Melody Land Center.
Now if you don't want Melody Land Center
here at the tab here's another suggestion.
What about the church of brotherly love?
Because that's basically what this church means in
terms of at least the title of the
city in which it was placed to the
church in Philadelphia.
It's accidental I don't want to read too
much into it.
It comes about this name as a result
of the founder King Atollus and he was
very concerned about his brother.
In fact he was nicknamed brother lover.
Isn't that rather nice?
He loved his brother so much that the
affection he had for his brother gave him
his nickname.
Now one occasion when he built what actually
was the newest city amongst this bunch of
seven he named it after his brother Philadelphia.
Philio to love, Adelphoi the plural for brothers.
Brothers who love.
What a wonderful way to describe any church.
The place where brothers, I use that in
its generic sense involving the ladies as well.
The place where people love one another.
The Apostle John was an old man and
whatever people may tell you to the contrary
the Christian gospel does not stop unfortunately the
effects of the aging process.
Sometimes or not always as age increases mental
acumen and skill is not quite the same
and it's reckoned of the Apostle John that
towards the end of his life all he
could say in terms of a sermon was
little children love one another.
Little children love one another.
And maybe that's what the Apostle John through
the spirit would say to us at Worthing
Tab this morning.
Love one another.
If you don't want the Melody Land Centre
how about the community of the brothers who
love.
Well we're introduced to the Lord of the
church once again in these opening verses and
dissimilar from all the other introductory comments that
you get in the Church of Ephesus and
the Church of Pergamon, Church of Thyatira and
the Church at Sardis.
There is no back reference to that remarkable
vision in the first chapter when you get
such a lovely description.
The second of two descriptions of the physique
of our Lord Jesus Christ in the word
of God.
There's no backtracking.
There are no symbolical words.
Rather the introduction as we're told about the
one who directs a message to the church
where people ought to be loving one another
is this.
These are the words of him who is
holy and true.
We're told who he is and what he
has.
Who is he?
Well he is the Holy One.
There is no one else who can have
that description besides our Lord Jesus.
That holy thing within you.
You remember the remarks made to Mary when
recognition is given of her condition being with
child.
That holy thing, that holy child, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Not only is he holy in a world
of unholiness but he's true truth to quote
Francis Schaeffer in a world where there's a
lot of lie and a lot of deception.
These are the words of him who is
holy and true.
This is who the Lord of the church
is.
But what does the Lord of the church
have?
Well he holds the key of David.
He holds the key of David.
I deliberately got Anne to read to us
from Isaiah chapter 22 because that gives the
Old Testament back cloth for this reference.
In those days there was a man who
was going a little bit beyond his normal
sphere of responsibility.
He wanted a grander position in Jerusalem and
as a result Shebna was tossed aside in
the purposes of God.
He was hurled and the Hebrew word is
the same as you would use for sending
a discus away from yourself.
He was hurled into Babylon and a more
faithful steward by the name of Elkayim was
brought to become the one who would take
the key of David's palace.
Now when you had the key in Old
Testament times, the key of a palace, not
only was the key a very big thing
but the responsibility was enormous.
It meant to say that with the exception
of the king you were the most important
man.
You had the greatest influence of anyone in
the country and that was what happened in
the experience of the man referred to in
Isaiah 22.
But here the message of the church or
the message directed to the church at Philadelphia
comes from one who holds the key of
David.
David was the greatest king of Israel not
so?
When our Lord Jesus was born we are
told that invested in him was the authority
of David.
There would never cease to be a descendant
of David on the throne and our Lord
Jesus comes into the world and he assumes
because it is his by right the authority
of David.
Not just over one tract of land in
Palestine but around the world.
For the purposes of God in the Old
Testament have now been internationalized and the children
of God are not just believing ethnic Jews
but all who have expressed like faith as
father Abraham did in the Lord God.
And as far as these people are concerned,
as far as the affairs of this world
and its future destiny goes, the one who
directs a message to the church at Philadelphia
is the one from whom his girdles drops,
hangs the key of David.
What he opens no one can shut.
What he shuts no one can open.
In other words the one who is in
charge of the church has ultimate authority in
this world.
Our Lord God saw fit to ensure that
Pharaoh promoted to the task of superintending his
house and controlling the whole of the Egyptian
empire Joseph.
He was suitably qualified.
What we are told in these verses that
our Lord Jesus Christ has been given all
the authority over the household of God.
You get references to that in Hebrews.
You get further references in Ephesians.
One I've quoted, our Lord Jesus having all
power, all authority, all responsibility, it belongs to
him.
Brothers and sisters sometimes I argue we have
too small a conception of the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we're told here as a message is
directed to the church at Philadelphia that the
one who is in control is he who
is holy and true and holds the key
of David.
How does he hold that key?
How does he use the key?
Well we're given further information as we move
into the eighth verse.
I know your deeds.
See I have placed before you an open
door that no one can shut.
I know that you have little strength.
There are three ways in which the Lord
of the church at Philadelphia who holds the
key, who has all authority, turns that key
to the advantage of the members of that
church.
And he does so by creating unbelievable opportunities
for ministry.
Did you hear that?
By creating unbelievable opportunities for ministry.
See I have placed before you an open
door.
Now that's a surprising assertion.
I think you could put an exclamation mark
after the verb see.
This is something that is quite astonishing.
You see the church at Philadelphia did not
seem to have the potential to be an
evangelistic church, to be engaged in great missionary
enterprise.
But when they're connected to the Lord who
is the head of the church, he who
is holy and true, he who has the
keys, the keys of death and hell, the
keys of every situation, he who is the
Lord of all circumstances, when he turns the
key on behalf of even a feeble group
of Christian people he can cause them to
do excellent service, tremendous exploits.
We do not have a great enough conception
of what our Lord Jesus can do for
a local church as an entity, or for
individuals within that church as ordinary Christians.
I have set before you an open door.
The Apostle Paul knew something about open doors
didn't he?
After all when he's reporting back to the
church at Antioch, which was very much a
missionary church, he says towards the end of
the 14th chapter as he rehearses all that
he has experienced, on arriving there they gathered
verse 27, Acts 14, Paul speaking or the
description is of Paul and his colleagues, on
arriving there they gathered the church together and
reported all that God had done through them
and how he had opened the door of
faith to the Gentiles.
And again when you go to 1 Corinthians
and chapter 16, the Apostle is rehearsing the
sovereign grace of God upon his ministry and
he tells us in the 8th and 9th
verses, but I will stay on at Ephesus
until Pentecost because a great door for effective
work has opened to me and there are
many who oppose me.
And then when he's talking to the church
in Colossae about his evangelistic exploits again in
the 4th chapter and in the 8th verse
or thereabouts he makes reference to, the third
verse it is, he makes reference to God
swinging open a door of opportunity and he
prays for even greater entrances for the gospel.
Pray for us too that God may open
a door for our message so that we
may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which
I am in chains.
I wonder if John was surprised as he
found himself there on the isle of Patmos
to hear that the church at Philadelphia was
a church that was being used by the
Lord in missionary and evangelistic enterprise and yet
the Lord was aware of its condition at
the natural level.
I know your deeds he says in verse
8, he goes on in the latter part
of that verse, I know that you have
little strength yet you have kept my word
and you have not denied my name.
Listen to me, weakness, spiritual weakness at one
level is no disqualification for you in the
service of God.
Once again I take you to the Lord
of the church, this is not my church,
this is not the eldest church, this is
the church of the Lord Jesus.
We so to speak plug into him, here
we are with little strength, here he is
with absolute authority, to him has all power
being given, he says this in Matthew 28
doesn't he, he says it in so many
other places, all authority is his.
So if he is the Lord of the
church and here is this small group of
inadequate people in Philadelphia and they plug into
his power, then when he swings open the
door of opportunity they can go through and
in their weakness they can become valiant in
their service for the Lord Jesus.
I tell you this, God has always used
weak men and women in his service, their
greatest problem is the problem of self-sufficiency.
Here is the apostle Paul and he's writing
to the Corinthians in the first epistle, the
27th verse, but God chose the foolish things
of the world to shame the wise, God
chose the weak things of the world to
shame the strong, he chose the lowly things
of this world and the despised things and
the things that are not to nullify the
things that are.
Why?
So that no one can boast.
Here is the apostle Paul later on and
he's writing again his second letter to the
Corinthians, he's talking about his human frailty, he
asks the Lord to deliver him of this
of this thorn in his flesh and God
stays his hand.
The apostle wants to know why, why is
it that you won't take away this thing
which is such an obstacle to my ministry
and the Lord says my grace is sufficient
for you, your weakness will be perfected in
my strength.
It's always the way in the church of
those who love one another, that however weak
they are, depending on the fact that they
remain true to the word of God and
verse eight, do not deny the name of
the Lord, he can take their utter inadequacy
and like the handful of loaves and fishes
the young boy gave the disciples, it can
be multiplied to the reaching of many many
people with the gospel.
Don't you think that's wonderful?
Here's William Carey, the old cobbler from Leicester
and he sets off with his demented wife
who's so sick to the land of India
and there he invests himself in the service
of God, it's ridiculous, it's utterly absurd.
Here's John Calvin with his emaciated body fleeing
in Europe to France with everyone against him
and yet God can take this man and
use him to move a continent out of
his strength, no it's never out of his
strength, out of his weakness and it's out
of your weakness, it's out of my total
inadequacy that the Lord of the church can
achieve his purposes.
He does so by creating unbelievable opportunities for
ministry, I argue he does so also by
influencing the nerve centres of problem, by influencing
the nerve centres of problems.
Well there are problems aren't there that confront
the local church, that confront individuals.
Here in the ninth and in the tenth
verses reference are made to difficulties that this
church in Philadelphia had.
There were those that the apostle describes as
coming from the synagogue of Satan, these people
who mounted a program of opposition and a
little short of persecution towards the ordinary Christian
and says the apostle don't feel that you're
really at the whim of their malice, I
will make those.
Here is the Lord speaking not the apostle,
I will make those who are of the
synagogue of Satan who claim to be Jews
though they're not but are liars, I will
make them come and fall down at your
feet.
Now that's not an anti-semitic comment, remember
that the one who's involved mainly in the
book of Revelation is a Jew, John.
The one who wrote the epistles, Paul is
a Jew and again Peter they're Jews, this
is no anti-Jewish comment but you see
these Jewish theologians they're true to what the
Lord Jesus taught when he turned around and
poured out the invective that he sometimes could
let loose on those who were becoming an
obstacle for the gospel.
He called the Pharisees in on one occasion
you remember as though they were whited sepulchers
full of dead men's bones.
He said to some other Jewish antagonists you're
not of your you're not of Abraham for
if Abraham were your father you would believe
what I am saying your father is the
devil and on one very dramatic occasion he
spins around and he addresses Peter.
Peter who loved Jesus and with lazy language
with unthought suggestion not carefully thought out says
to Jesus don't go to the cross so
Jesus turns around and he says get thee
behind me certain man.
Now there were obstacles I say for the
advance of the gospel in Philadelphia and yet
the apostle says I will make those who
are the synagogue of Satan who claim to
be Jews though they are not but Eliza
will make them come and fall down at
your feet and acknowledge that I have loved
you.
Don't you realize that the end of the
gospel the end of the gospel journey throughout
this world will come when every knee shall
bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the
Father.
There will be those of Jew and of
Gentile descent who on the day of the
return of the Lord Jesus will want to
hide in the rocks who will want the
waters of the sea to consume them because
our Lord will come to execute judgment upon
this world every knee shall bow the knee
of Saddam Hussein the knee of George Bush
the knee of all those who have been
rebellious against the purposes of God in generations
gone by.
Jesus the Lord of the
church at Philadelphia since you have kept my
command verse 10 to endure patiently I will
also keep you from the hour of trial.
Here is another great difficulty that is going
to come upon the whole church that is
going to come upon the whole world to
test those who live on the earth.
What is that hour of trial?
Well I've heard some people try and describe
this in terms of a great tribulation from
which the church will be removed.
I personally cannot see that.
What is the greatest trial that men and
women can ever have to undergo?
Well it's the trial that will occur when
men who have not responded to the saving
grace of Jesus Christ are brought before the
bar of his judgment.
That is the greatest trial.
Men and women who have raised their fists
against God.
But that trial is one which will not
have you summoned to the bar to answer.
Why is that?
Well on a hill far away stood an
old rugged cross and there on that cross
died one who takes your sin.
The trial of the Lord Jesus was vicarious
for your trial.
He stands in your place before the bar
of God's judgment and the flesh of God's
wrath is directed against him.
The scud missile against all human sin and
our Lord catches it and suffers the consequences
and as a result there is no trial
for Christian people.
You will not be brought to book on
the day of judgment as far as your
sins are concerned for they have been removed
from the sight of God.
He has hit the delete button on the
computers of heaven and on that day the
church that met at Philadelphia in the first
century and members of the church at Worthing
Tabernacle will not have to appear with the
myriads of the sons and daughters of Adam
they are kept from that judgment the nerve
center of discomfort because of what the Saviour
has achieved for us.
And so the word goes to the church
in Philadelphia and the church in Worthing Tabernacle
as a result of these things since you
have kept my command to endure run with
patience that the race that is set before
you when you know that your sins are
forgiven when you know that your destiny is
with God in the heavenly realm it's going
to affect the way that you live your
ordinary day by day life.
This is what the Christ of the church
has done.
This is why it is an utter nonsense
to attribute authority in a local church to
any ordinary man the authority vests the hands
of him who has the seven spirits and
the seven stars of the church as Jesus.
He is the Lord of the church.
I argue the Lord of the church creates
unbelievable opportunities for ministry.
He influences the nerve centers of problems and
finally the Lord of the church is seen
to be such by consummating the saga of
history.
We've touched on this already we've anticipated it
come to verse 11 I am coming soon.
It's not so much that the message is
given in terms of the immediate time scale
of the Lord Jesus's coming some 2,000
years has gone into history since this vision
was given to John but here we are
to think of the end time and and
the the action of our Lord Jesus this
this perusia this this manifestation of himself it
will happen soon in an instant in a
flash.
Here are men and women and they're cavorting
they are giving and receiving in marriage there
is promiscuity there is profligacy there is living
as though God is not in control and
then dramatically one day he comes and the
whole of the world is is brought to
a state of paralysis the traffic stops human
life as we now know it ceases it
is the end time it is the omega
point behold I am coming soon.
Now if you really believe that what will
you do?
You people who live in this happily entitled
city where brethren love one another what will
you do?
You'll hold on to what you have not
easy at Philadelphia to hold on Philadelphia is
like Los Angeles it's built on an earthquake
fault and in AD 17 there was a
massive destruction the Christians and the rest of
the community later on when there were further
earthquakes were aware of the dangers of living
in Philadelphia the time is coming when God
is going to shake the earth the heavens
and the earth the nations those who risk
who lift their clenched fists against him he's
going to shake it it's the biblical way
of speaking of the end of all things
now with that in mind you hold on
to what you have why well because of
three things the crown and the pillar and
the name so that no one will take
your crown what is that meant well obviously
it's what does it mean it's symbolic language
the crown is what the Lord gives those
who live righteously in view of his coming
the way that they expend themselves the time
that they invest in the kingdom of God
the money that they give the prayers that
they offer the lifestyle that they assume hold
on to your crown so that when when
he comes not only will you enter into
the fullness of salvation but you will receive
from him the well done you good and
faithful servant here's the apostle Paul a man
who too perhaps is coping with senility I
don't know but he dashes off a letter
to to Timothy and he says I'm at
the end of the course I finished it
I've kept the faith henceforth there is laid
up for me a what a crown you
see a crown of righteousness that crown it's
been before Paul throughout the whole of his
life it's a thing that that has has
has manipulated if you like that has conditioned
the way that he has lived now says
the Lord Jesus the one who is in
charge of the church to the people at
Philadelphia Philadelphia hold on to what you have
don't let anyone take the crown you have
known turmoil and strife but I'll make you
a pillar in the temple of my God
you never remove a pillar a pillar is
that which remains even when earthquakes have been
and gone thus witness the ruins in Asher
minor you see the pillars the temple in
Jerusalem it had its twin pillars it had
that they gave the pillars their own name
and the apostle Paul and Peter they referred
to as the pillars of the church now
this is it in its cosmic setting in
its cosmic significance I will make you pillars
in the temple of my God never again
will you leave it what does the psalmist
say he wants to be in the house
of the Lord forever one thing have I
desired of the Lord that will I seek
after that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord forever you people at Philadelphia
with all the problems that beset you the
opposition party all these myriads of trials sometimes
the shaking of the earth hold on to
your crown I'm making a pillar in the
cosmic temple of my God what's more I'm
giving you a name they knew about names
Philadelphia was renamed twice Caesar helped it after
the earthquake in AD 17 and it was
called the new Caesarea and another Emperor helped
it later on and it was known by
the name of flavors and then it returned
to its original name of Philadelphia Christian people
do you know something God has given you
a new name Jesus says I will write
unto him the name of my God Christian
glory in your name and the name of
the city of my God we're all pilgrims
and strangers going through this world if you
think of yourself as anything but that then
you think on biblically we're like Abraham Abraham
never had any residual place to rest on
this earth though God had promised him a
great land the promises of God to Abraham
as they're interpreted in the New Testament are
a mind-blowing Abraham looks for the city
whose maker and whose builder is God we
are pilgrims going towards the city and the
name of that city is to be upon
your heart and my heart do you have
that passport that indicates the city of your
destination the city of your God and what's
more I will write on him my new
name the name that God has given our
Lord Jesus Christ that is a name that
embraces his children too he is Lord of
Lords he is a King of Kings he
is my Lord he is my King I
am so connected to our Lord Jesus that
there is no power in hell on earth
or in heaven that can stop the relationship
that I have with him hold on to
your crown I'll make you a pillar in
the church of my God I give to
you a new name pay attention did you
hear pay attention he who has an ear
to hear not the whole church this is
singular he you every person here in the
tab the Lord Jesus speaking to you personally
he who has an ear to hear incline
it to me and listen to what I
say I will create new opportunities in ministry
for you I will open an open door
that nobody can shut and even your spiritual
poverty will be no disqualification because the littleness
that you possess of my spirit can be
made into such a power that you'll be
used effectively and efficiently not necessarily in India
not necessarily in Bangladesh but here in Worthing
I will create unbelievable opportunities for ministry I
will influence the nerve centers of problem so
that you'll be able to endure and cope
with all the pressures of life knowing that
ultimately you'll stand safe before me on the
day when I return and as I consummate
you will have a place in the New
Jerusalem the city of my God let's
pray father
you said to Jeremiah when he wanted to
throw in the towel so to speak don't
let go you said the same to Jonah
don't let go and father we need to
hold on some of us don't find it
easy there were problems in our past life
that we've not really reconciled and sometimes we
let the failures of the past bedevil the
opportunities of the present but Lord you tell
us in your word that Jesus can control
the nerve centers of difficulty so Lord we
offer those situations to you right now twiddle
the knobs and set us on the right
course we pray